Aldo Kamper (photo) has been CEO of Osram Opto Semiconductors for seven years so far, a timeframe coinciding with the transformation of parent company Osram.
| Aldo Kamper |
While Kamper doesn’t claim credit for the parent company’s new emphasis on solid state lighting and related technology, it’s certain that basic semiconductor technologies and their devices, developed and manufactured by Osram’s Opto Semiconductors division—second, in their field, only to Japan’s Nichia—have been critical pillars for Osram’s recent growth. In FY17 Osram generated revenues from three business units: Opto Semiconductors (€1.7bn), Specialty Lighting (€2.3bn), and Lighting Solutions and Systems (€1bn). Half of Opto Semiconductors’ revenue comes from the automotive sector; the rest derives from the consumer sector: everything from wearable devices to signal generation. Opto Semiconductors’ product portfolio includes high-performance LEDs, miniature LEDs for mobile devices, as well as infrared diodes (IREDs), semiconductor lasers, and detectors.
Osram’s rapid growth couldn’t have happened and wouldn’t continue without the company’s intense R&D and ability for cost-efficient production, according to Kamper. “After all,” he says, “we are in the cost-intensive game for semiconductors”. Last November Osram opened a new plant in Kulim, Malaysia, which they say will be the world’s largest LED factory using 6-inch wafers to produce semiconductor light sources.
